Satan--The Father of All Lies

Hoooolaaaa!!!!

Well this week was interesting, we taught a lot of lessons, the familia Chisaguano FINALLY came back but it looks like they took off for Quito again, we found out that one of our investigators went to jail, you know, just another week down here in the mountains of Ecuador.
I guess I`ll start at the beginning. The Flia Chisaguano finally got back from Quito on Tuesday or Wednesday and we went over on Thursday, but it was really depressing. They were all really sad because HNA Glanzer had left, like bawling their heads off about it sad, which of course made us sad and then they were like, ohhh we don't know about baptism, we have to pray about it and think about it. Sighhhh . . . . okay. HNA Bravo was really upset about it, obviously, because she'd worked with them for so much more time than me, but I also felt really depressed because they're a great family and everyone had worked so hard with them. We decided to give them a couple days before going back, and when we returned we watched the Emma Smith movie and it turned out to be AMAZING. Emma Smith passed through some really tough stuff, just like the Flia Chisaguano, so they were really affected by it. By the end of the night they were all smiling and saying see you in church tomorrow!!! But the next day they got a call from their family in Quito and apparently HNA Silvia's dad got worse (he'd already been sick) and so they didn't go to church and when we passed by afterwards there was no one there and worse, the phone was turned off. Soooo . . . . we're not sure what's going on. But we will find them. If it takes the rest of my mission and kills me, we will find this family and baptize them.

The Flia Ushca is doing really well, but they're afraid to be baptized. Bueno, HNA Sandra says that she was already baptized but that she's going to pray to know if she should be baptized again, and HNO Angel says that he's afraid to be baptized because what if he fails God afterwards?? We were really frustrated afterwards, but what do you do when all else fails?? Call in additional reinforcements!!! Tonight we're going to go with the zone leaders to have a family home evening and we're going to teach the Restoration with emphasis on the apostacy and how the authority of the priesthood was lost and then restored. Then the zone leaders are going to put a baptismal date on them. It's gonna be awesome, I just know it. Yesterday they didn't come to church, and when we went over afterwards they apologized for not coming!!! That's never happened to me before!!! It gives me animos to keep on truckin' with them.

So then, in the third family that we're working with, HNA Monica and her son Richard are pretty much ready to be baptized, the only problem is that Monica's not married, she just lives with HNO Ramiro and he doesn't want anything to do with us, although he is friendly. Plus they're having a lot of problems and I don't think she even wants to marry him (I understand, I probably wouldn't either, but it is necessary so that she can get baptized so we're working on the whole chastity issue.) Anyway, this Sunday Monica and Richard came to church with us and we asked her about HNO Ramiro. She was like, oh he's in (insert name of random city two hours away from Loja, don't remember the name but it's long and hard to say.) Oh, cool. Well afterwards we went to teach her a lesson and she started telling us about all the issues she was having with him, that he gets jealous and sometimes hits her and all kinds of stuff, and then she was like, uhhhh I lied when I told you he was out of town, he's actually in jail. Apparently debtor's prison still exists in this country, who knew?? But we felt really bad for her, because she's so awesome and comes to church every Sunday with us and reads the BOM and prays and she's got all this lame stuff happening in her life and now her lamesauce boyfriend's in jail and can't get out until she pays the money. I thought about telling her to just leave him in there but decided that wouldn't be hugely tactful (although if I was in this situation, it's possibly what I would do. Not important to the story.) But she is living the law of chastity now, so I guess we'll see what happens, haha!!!

So this week was pretty difficult for us. We worked incredibly hard but had some ridiculously difficult challenges to face with all our investigators. Last night I was thinking about why were having all these issues, why the opposition was working so incredibly hard against us. I've never felt so clearly that Satan has put a picture of me and my companion on his dartboard in all my mission. Then it came to me: We're working with three families, three really awesome families. Think about what's in a family: the priesthood, something that Satan will never have, a marriage, something else that Satan will never have, children, something ELSE that Satan will never have, members of the Relief Society, Young Men's and Women's, Primary-something that Satan will never be a part of. Love, charity, respect, happiness, and the hope of being an eternal family, living together with the people we love most of all for all time: and with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. All these things are made possible when a family gets baptized together-and it ticks Satan off. A LOT. As I sat there thinking last night, I realized that this was why it was so incredibly difficult, why the devil was working so hard against us and why we were feeling it. BUT-that the powers of evil will never defeat the power of God (another thing that ticks Satan off!!!!) One time I was listening to a John Bytheway talk and someone had asked him, if Satan knows he's going to lose eventually, why does he still try so hard??? John Bytheway said that it was because he wanted to take as many of us with him as possible when he lost. Or something like that-I don't remember exactly.

But my point is this-don't EVER let Satan drag you down to where he is. He may tell you that everyone's doing it, that the commandments are out of date, that no one will know, that no one will get hurt. He may tell you that the church isn't true, that Joseph Smith was crazy, that he made everything up. He may tell you that God doesn't exist, and that if He does, He definitely doesn't love you. He may tell you that you're not worthy or able to pray, or that if you've messed up you'll never be able to fix it. NONE OF THAT IS TRUE: Satan is the father of ALL LIES. If you let him drag you down, people will get hurt, and not just you but everyone who loves you. Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. He restored the true gospel on the earth. The priesthood of God resides in it, and the people chosen by God to lead us also. You are worthy to pray, and if you've messed up, there is always a way back through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Through Him we have joy and peace. Though Satan, all we have is misery.

Heavenly Father loves you. You are His child and He wants nothing more than for you to come back into His presence-together with your family. Work as hard as you can to get there-it's the reason we're here on the earth. And be thankful that you already have the gospel in your life, because you have no idea how hard Satan works to make sure that Heavenly Father's children who don't already have it don't receive it. But I know that every single one of these families will be baptized-it might kill us, but they will be able to receive the blessings of the gospel.

Les amo muchisimo. Oren por mi y por mi compy, por favor. Estamos trabajando durisimo pero necesitamos toda la ayuda de los cielos que podamos tener!!!

Hermana Chamberlain

I Am His Daughter

Mom-

This is the song that I mentioned a few months ago that I said I would post the words but I never did. If you want you can put it on the blog, but I thought you would like to know that the words have comforted me and helped me a lot in the mission.

I Am His Daughter

The photos in the magazine
Don't dictate who I'm supposed to be
The world can't recognize all that I am inside
But I know in His eyes I am a part of the bigger picture
There's so much more to me
He helps me see that I have so much to offer
I am His Daughter
He loves me the way I am
He's my strength when I stand
He is my King and my Father, I am His Daughter
The people on the TV screen
The leaders, rulers and queens
I watch them shape the world, and though I'm just a girl
I still know for sure I am a part of the bigger picture
There's so much more to me
He helps me see that I have so much to offer
I am His Daughter
He loves me the way I am
He's my strength when I stand
He is my King and my Father, I am His Daughter
And when I'm feeling small
And wondering if I'll ever
Find courage to stand tall
Through His love I remember
There's so much more to me
He helps me see that I have so much to offer
I am His Daughter
He loves me the way I am
He's my strength when I stand
He is my King and my Father
I am His Daughter

We Have the Best Family Evaaaaah!

Ellen sent the following email in response to something her sister Abby said. First is the excerpt from Abby's email (sorry Ab, Ellen said to put it up), then Ellen's response.

Grandma and Grandpa Chamberlain were in town, so we all ( Grandma, Grandpa, Hillary, David, Sarah, me, Peter, Amy, and Christopher) went out to dinner on Saturday night, and then we also had dinner at Peter and Amy's on Sunday. It was fun, and when we were driving home on Sunday (belting Christmas songs at the top of our lungs), I realized how GLAD I am that we belong to the Chamberlain family and not some other family. I decided that there are two main criterion to being a member of the Chamberlain family:

1. Quirkiness
2. An appreciation for GOOD FOOD!

Keep those in mind when you get married, please. We don't want anyone throwing off our groove (wouldn't it be so sad to belong to a family that didn't have an equal number of desserts and people at Thanksgiving Dinner??). Anyway. I love being a Chamberlain. We have the best family evaaaaah!

We really do have the best family evaaaaah. I realized that when I read this email. I miss you all but not enough to get trunky (yet, haha chendo). But although it kills me to think about coming home, a part of me is really excited for the next Thanksgiving dinner and 16 different desserts. Our family is, without question, really awesome.

Love youuuuuuu

HNA C

This Home Is Catholic, Thank You For Respecting Our Faith

Holaaa!

You guys are lucky, the zone leaders almost told us that we had to wait till next week to write but we managed to convince them that we should be able to write today, haha. Anyway, hopefully nobody was too scared by my last email, because I do feel a lot better now. I still miss Cuenca a lot but I`m beginning to develop a love for the people here in Loja too. We`re working with a lot of cool people and especially families!!! My favorite!! So I am doing better, and despite what everyone might think, I`m not going to throw myself off a bridge or even sneak on the next bus to Cuenca. I`m good.

So yesterday we finally got back from Guayaquil at 10 at night. We had to go to renew my visa and in 3 weeks we have to come back to renew my censo. Why couldn`t we just do it all at once??? Elder Guerrero and I would really like to know that too. Ecuador is a red tape country for sure. But to make a long story short, the bus ride from Loja to Guayaquil and back is generally 9-10 hours long, although sometimes you can make it in 7 and sometimes it takes 12. I'm really hoping I never experience the 12 hour ride, that would be horrible. Sunday night we went all night long and got to Guayaquil at 4:30 in the morning. Uhhh . . . . Now what do we do?? We ended up hanging out in the terminal for a few hours and then went to the office, waited another 2 hours even though we got there on time and FINALLY went off to renew the visa, except we also waited there forever. But I did see my first district leader in the mission, Elder Cruz, so that was fun. He's going home in the middle of December, isn't that crazy??? Time flies when you're serving the Lord (Jacob 7:26). Then we had about 45 minutes to shoot off the quick email to our families, go back to the office to pick something up and fly back to the terminal. We thought when we got on the bus that we had just barely made it, but we ended up sitting on the bus for 15 minutes. Hableme en serio. We totally could have gone to McDonalds like we wanted. And THEN, when we were an hour outside of Loja there was a traffic jam and we sat there for another 45 minutes. I was just like you've got to be kidding me!!! Finally we got home and threw ourselves into bed and died for about 7 hours. It was really terrible and the worst part is knowing that I have to do it again in 3 weeks!!!

Anyway, enough Debbie Downer. Loja is very pretty and there are a lot of cool people here. We are working with 3 families and having a lot of fun. My companion is really funny-she loves to take pictures and videos and we just have a blast with it. One time we came to a door for an appointment, rang the doorbell and no one answered. We rang a bunch but still nothing. So we decided that we were going to have some fun. We now have a video of me ringing the doorbell obnoxiously and banging on the gate, then noticing the sticker on the door that says, this home is catholic, thank you for respecting our faith. Not to be deterred, I kept ringing and knocking, and finally HNA Bravo says, it looks like they're not here, and I said, it looks like they're catholic!!! It's a hugely hilarious video, not gonna lie. And we have many more. So I am having a great time with my companion, and also with getting to know the people here. The Flia Chisaguano is still AWOL although we heard that they're coming back soon from Quito and I just know that they'll be baptized this month, I don't know how but I know it. We're also working with the Flia. Ushca, who reminds me a lot of Flia. Criollo except they're a little bit more tranquilo. But the HNO Angel and the HNA Sandra are both really smart-they pretty much teach themselves and they have an 11 year old son named Orlandito, and a 1 year old named Erick. This past week they were going to go to Riobamba and not be able to go to church, so we prayed all week that they wouldn't go and that they'd come to church instead. On Friday we went to their house for an appointment and HNA Sandra said, ahh, I have to go, Orlandito's in the hospital!!! We of course offered to go with her and called someone to give him a priesthood blessing, shared a scripture with them and everything. When we left I looked at HNA Bravo and said, guess they're not going to Riobamba!!!! Haha, oops!! On Sunday Orlandito was still in the hospital but much better, and his parents were like I dunno if we're gonna be able to go but we'll try. We went to the hospital to pick them up and only found Orlandito, who said that his parents had gone home. By this time we had 10 minutes before church started. HNA Bravo was like, if we run we can get to the house and call them . . . . are you willing to run??? Of COURSE!!!! We booked it to the house and called, they said that they'd be late but they'd make it. All through sacrament meeting I was praying that they'd make it, and imagine the happiness that we felt went we saw them peeking through the door and waving-both of them!!!!! It was the best feeling ever.

Prayer works. It works in mysterious ways but it works. PS: Orlandito is all better now, he got out of the hospital yesterday on his birthday.

Anyway, I'm doing good. I'm getting used to my new place. I'm having fun with my companion and the other people in my district and zone. Elder Garcia is my zone leader and Elder Caro is here in the other district-sometimes after district meeting we reminisce about the good times in the office but we're all super happy that we're not there anymore, hahaha. And I have a couple of new favorite scriptures from Doctrine and Covenants (sidenote: I wish I had more time to study D&C, it's AWESOME). D&C 9: 6, and D&C 63:57-58. I'm learning what it means to really align your will with the Lord, and that if you do, He'll show you all the things that you should do-and bless you incredibly.

Les amo muchisimo. Amigos-ESCRIBANME POR FAVOR

Yo sé que vive mi Señor
Consuelo es poder saber
Que vive aunque muerto fue
Y siempre Su amor tendré

A Quickie From Guayaquil

Helloooo!!!!

Well this is gonna be really short because we're in Guayaquil and we have to hop a bus in half an hour to go back to Loja. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm still alive and I even feel better than I did last week, so you can all breathe a sigh of relief. I´ll be writing more tomorrow so don´t worry, but right now we have to run back to the office and then book it to the terminal, or we´ll be pulling another all nighter on the bus and we don´t want that!!!

Mucho amor, les amo todos y gracias por sus palabras de amor y apoyo.

Hermana Chamberlain

She Sent PICTURES!!!!!

Finally, we got some pictures via snail mail. They are posted on the Photos page. Sorry they aren't in chronological order. Blogspot is a bit of a pain when it comes to posting pictures so I didn't mess with it too much. Let's hope the internet is faster at the cafes in Loja! Here's the note that came with the photos.

Hola Familia!

So I accidentally printed doubles of all my pictures, and I was like, what the heck am I gonna do with all these pictures? And then I thought hey, I'll send them to my family, they are ALWAYS asking for pictures! So here's some pics of Cuenca, one picture in Loja and some other random stuff. I know this is relatively unconventional (wow, I can't believe I even remember what that word means) but the internet is so slow here that I'd rather eat glass than send photos by email. You'll have to do a little more work to get them on the blog, but at least I sent them! love you lots. I wrote descriptions on the backs. I'll keep looking for the magic internet cafe--fasting and prayers would be appreciated!

Les amo mucho!

Hermana Chamberlain

Missing Cuenca

Hola . . . . .

This is going to be an audience participation email-we're going to use our imaginations. Imagine that you're in a beautiful place, and working in the best job that you've ever had in your life. You love your coworkers, you love the clients, and you love the place that you live in. And you're especially happy because a lot of your clients are about to make the best deal of their lives, one that will bring them a lot of happiness and allow them to progress a lot in their lives. You've worked hard, put in a lot of effort, and even cried over some of these people, but seeing them make these decisions that will bring them so much joy makes it all worth it. You are the happiest that you've ever been in your life.

Then one day, your boss calls you into the office. He thanks you for the work that you've done with these people, and then tells you that he needs you to go to another branch of the company, in a place that's still pretty but not as pretty as the place you're in now. You'll have new coworkers, you won't know the area or any of the clients, and you won't even know if you have clients. And . . . . . you won't be able to come back and visit this place that you love, and the people that you've come to love like your own family. You won't be there to see the results of all your work.

How would you feel at this point?? Like your heart was breaking??

If you answered yes to that question, then you know exactly how I felt last night at around 9:30 PM.

Last night the district leader called and told me that I was being transferred. At first I thought he was joking, in fact I was waiting for him to say HAHA, just kidding Hermana Chamberlain!!!! But even though I asked him about 6 times if he was joking, it wasn't a joke. At first they told me that I was going back to Guayaquil. I absolutely couldn't believe it-why on earth would I be going back there?? Elder Forero could hear how upset I was and said all the consolation things, don't worry everything's going to be fine you'll have a lot of success blah blah blah. All I said was uh huh, uh huh, yeah okay chao. I hung up the phone, buried my face in my pillow and began to cry. Hard. For a really long time. HNA Castillo started crying too-we had worked SO HARD for these people and we wanted to be there together when they all got baptized. Then the zone leaders called. I picked up the phone and said, I hope you're calling to tell me that the transfer call was a joke. Elder Johnson said that unfortunately it wasn't but that he was calling with more details about the transfers. Then he told me that I wasn't going to Guayaquil at all . . . . I was going to Loja. And that they were going to divide Alamos into two sectors-Hermana Glanzer was coming to be in one part and was going to train, and Hermana Castillo was going to take the other part and also train. All the people that we have that were going to be baptized in this change, that we had worked so hard and given up hours of time and energy to be able to go visit them . . . . I wasn't going to see them be baptized. It was too much for me to handle and I started crying again, and Hermana Castillo was bawling her head off right along with me. We sat there crying for so long that I didn't even start packing my bags until 10:30. I managed to quit crying while I was packing but when I got into bed I started crying and even though HNA Castillo gave me her Pooh Bear to hold and told me not to cry and that everything would be okay, I couldn't stop. I don't even know when I fell asleep-all I remember is crying and crying and feeling like my heart was breaking. I know that that sounds cliche but my heart literally was hurting. And it wasn't just for the baptisms-I really love the people in Cuenca, the investigators, the converts, the members, all of them. There were so many that I didn`t get to say goodbye to, and I felt like my time there was too short. If it sounds like I'm complaining or murmuring, that's not my intention at all. But I think that there have been very few times in my life when I've felt such profound sadness. In fact, I have tears in my eyes right now as I'm typing this. I know that everything is going to be okay-I know that I'm here in Loja for a reason, because when we got to the terminal, Elder Forero said that President wanted me to go to Loja to help lift up the sector that I would be in. But the thing is, I don't really do anything different-I just work hard and try to do what Heavenly Father wants. I don't know what President thinks I can do but I'm going to try and figure it out and do the best I can. Hopefully the heartache that I feel goes away soon.

Anyway, I'm in Loja now, in the sector called Jipiro. My companion's name is Hermana Bravo, she's from Nicauragua and is really sweet. I know we'll get along just fine. I'm excited because we are working with two families that have a date to be baptized, although I'm sad because I've been reading HNA Glanzer's blog and she worked so hard with the family that's getting baptized this Saturday, and now she won't be able to see their baptism. I feel like she deserves to be there more than me. But although I haven't met them yet, I already love them and I'm excited to get to know them and help them progress in the gospel. I know that everything will be okay, and it's not that I feel like I shouldn't be here or that I'm angry or anything . . . . I'm just very very sad and I miss Cuenca and all the incredible people that I left there. But the people here are great too and I know that I will be okay and that I will figure out what the Lord wants me to do here and that the heartache will go away. I know that the reason I feel this way is because I did what missionaries are supposed to do-develop a pure love and desire for the salvation of all the people in Cuenca.

I love you all so much. Thank you for all your love and prayers for me. Sorry this email was such a downer and that I didn't tell any funny stories or incredible spiritual experiences. Next week should be better. And despite everything, I love the Lord and I know He loves me, and that he will help me here in His great work.

Les amo muchisimo,

Hermana Chamberlain